Massaging system having isolated vibrators

A vehicle seat comprising a structural member, a seat pad and a back pad supported relative to the structural member, the seat pad and the back pad each comprising:

• (a) a plurality of vibrator units, each vibrator unit including a housing, a motor supported within the housing, means for connecting the motor to a source of electrical power, the motor being coupled to a mass element for producing vibratory motion of the housing;
• (b) a main cushion member having a main supporting surface and being formed of a resilient material having a first volumetric stiffness, a plurality of spaced apart cavities being formed therein and interrupting the supporting surface for receiving respective ones of the vibrator units, each cavity being sufficiently large to provide clearance space on all sides of the corresponding vibrator unit;
• (c) a plurality of isolation members, each isolation member having a second volumetric stiffness being less than the first volumetric stiffness, the isolation member covering at least a portion of a vibrator unit and being interposed between the vibrator unit and the main cushion member;
• and
• (d) an outer cushion member having a third volumetric stiffness being greater than the second volumetric stiffness, the outer cushion member being bonded to the main supporting surface and covering the cavities, the outer cushion member forming an outer supporting surface being spaced from the main supporting surface.

A method for converting a padded support device to produce isolated massaging of a user's body, the device including a main cushion having a first bulk stiffness, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a vibratory transducer having a housing and a control cable extending from the housing for driving the transducer;
• (b) enclosing at least a portion of the transducer housing in a resilient isolation material having a second bulk stiffness being less than the first bulk stiffness;
• (c) forming a cavity in a supporting surface of the main cushion, the cavity being sufficiently large for receiving the combination of the transducer housing and the isolation material;
• (d) placing the transducer housing together with the isolation material in the cavity;
• (e) positioning the control cable to extend from the cavity and on the supporting surface to an edge margin thereof;
• (f) providing a resilient pad member for covering the supporting surface;
• (g) bonding a reinforcing sheet member to a bottom surface of the pad member;
• and
• (h) bonding the sheet member to the supporting surface, the sheet member being laminated between the main cushion and the pad member and covering the cavity.